


The Valentine's Day Santa

by Kh530



Category: Green Creek Series - T.J. Klune
Genre: All tagged character speak, Also I might have ended up exploring Tanner backstory? I honestly don't know how that happened tbh, Background Relationships, F/F, Families of Choice, Flower Language, M/M, Original character is the florist, Other characters mentioned - Freeform, Platonic Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-15
Updated: 2020-02-15
Packaged: 2021-02-28 00:14:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,741
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22744624
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kh530/pseuds/Kh530
Summary: Which is Chris makes a joke and Tanner decides to surprise the pack with flowers. He's not nearly as sneaky as he thinks.
Comments: 7
Kudos: 14
Collections: Green Creek Valentine's Day Challenge





	The Valentine's Day Santa

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ElectricPurple89](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ElectricPurple89/gifts).



> Happy (slightly belated) Valentine's Day! All of this is Steph's fault, so thanks Steph.
> 
> Also hugest thanks to my lovely betas Sarah and Gigi who I would not survive without. Especially Gigi who helped make this fic about 10x better than it would have been without her.

Valentine’s Day wasn’t on Tanner’s list of favorite holidays. Not just because he was Aro, but because he honestly didn’t see the point of it. If you were in a relationship with someone, shouldn’t you treat them nicely every day? Whatever, he didn’t really get Valentine’s Day and tended to just ignore the holiday altogether. 

Except this year was the first holiday that the whole pack, yes the whole pack — Gavin and Carter included — were home. Even though it was a nonconsequential holiday, Tanner still thought that, well, someone should do something special. 

So when Chris joked he should be the Valentine’s Day Santa Claus, Tanner had a fucking brain blast. He was gonna deliver flowers to everyone in the pack during the night, except he wasn’t going down any chimney because well most of the places everyone lived didn’t have them. 

So after work on Friday, he dodged the rest of the guys, feigning other plans, and headed to the florist on Main Street. 

The smells of the flower shop would have been overwhelming if Tanner had entered just a year earlier, but he was kinda proud that the smells only made his nose twitch for a moment instead. 

“Hey Mags,” he greeted the florist. He had a sheepish smile on his face as he rubbed the back of his head nervously. 

The florist, Magdalene, glared at him, giving him a once over. 

“Look at what the cat dragged in,” she said, her hands on her hips. “Or maybe I should say look at what the wolf dragged in. You haven’t come to visit me in ages, Tanner Reeves.”

Tanner at least had the grace to look guilty. 

The flower shop where they stood had once belonged to Tanner’s mother. She had taught Mags everything that the woman knew, about flowers, about running a business. And when his mother had died, she’d left the florist to Mags, Tanner having no interest in it and nowhere near enough talent in flower arrangement to run it, although he had been a good delivery boy back in the day. 

“I’m sorry,” Tanner said sincerely. “Things have just been crazy with—“

Magdalene’s expression softened. 

“Being a big super cool strong werewolf guy?” she asked playfully. She looked at him kindly and Tanner realized how much he’d missed her. He needed to make more time to spend with her, one of the last connections he had to his mom– but also one of his oldest friends (minus Rico and Chris and Gordo). 

She rolled her eyes at his embarrassed expression and waved off his hurried apologies.

“It’s fine, it’s fine,” Magdalene said. “What do you need? Since I’m guessing this isn’t a friendly visit.”

Tanner thought about apologizing again, but she cut him off, her expression soft.

“Really. It’s okay. I know everything was crazy for a while,” she said. “I’m glad everything’s alright now. I for one missed our mayor and his lovely wolf companion who is apparently a real boy.”

Tanner couldn’t help the laugh that escaped his mouth. It had been interesting when Gavin had come back and the townsfolk had realized the large timber wolf that had followed their (former) mayor around like a shadow was… an actual person. Will, who owned the motel in town, had had a particularly hilarious reaction that Tanner wouldn’t be forgetting anytime soon.

“I need 15 yellow roses, please,” Tanner said. He smiled sweetly at Magdalene. “Individually wrapped, if you could. I could help, if you need."

“Oh you’re definitely going to help me wrap all of that,” Mags said. “For Valentine’s Day?”

Tanner nodded. He was actually surprised the shop wasn’t busier, but it was getting late, only another half an hour until the florist closed, so he wasn’t that surprised at the lack of patrons. Green Creek was still a small town after all. 

“I’m going to give one to each member of the pack.” Tanner rubbed the back of his neck shyly. “It’s the first holiday we’ve all been back together.”

Magdalene smiled sweetly at him, her grassy green eyes kind. “And yellow roses represent joy and friendship—

“And platonic love!” Tanner said, definitely not giggling. He was a manly man, he did not giggle, and anyone who said he had wouldn’t have been lying. 

But Magdalene giggled though before letting out a deep breath. 

“Of course you have to find a way to make it a joke too,” she said, shaking her head. “You might be a wolf boy now, but you still have a heart as big as your terrible and sometimes shitty sense of humor.”

“Thank you—“ Tanner said, sounding almost proud. Then he thought about what she’d said. “Hey!”

But she ignored him as she got out from behind the counter, just as she always had. She waved him into the back of the shop, where the flowers were kept, and Tanner, knowing Mags for… Jesus at least thirty years at this point, knew better than to argue with her. 

* * *

It had been a while since Tanner had been back here, at least a year or so, but not much had changed. The large worktable was still up against the wall. The workbenches still sat at the other side of the room, looking like wooden picnic tables you’d find at a park while the large refrigerator storing the flowers stood behind the benches. 

“Did you repaint the walls?” Tanner asked. “They look nice.”

Magdalene beamed. “I did! I’m glad you noticed.”

And with that, the two of them set to work. Magdalene grabbed the flowers out of the refrigerator, grabbing the roses and baby’s breath as Tanner found the tissue paper and small cards in the same drawer his mother used to keep them in. 

“You write out the cards,” Mags said as she began to cut the flowers. “I don’t trust you with the flowers themselves.”

“I’m not  _ that _ bad at floral arrangements,” Tanner said indignantly. “Especially not single flowers.”

Magdalene gave him a look of disbelief. “You used to make bouquets without fillers. You don’t get to touch the flowers.”

“That was—okay that was multiple times but still,” Tanner argued. 

Magdalene threw a pen at him. “Less talking and more writing, Reeves.” 

And so he did. It took the two of them well past closing to finish, with Magdalene having to stop twice to make orders for people who walked in, but in the end, each of the members of the Bennett pack had a yellow rose wrapped up nicely with a bow and a small card with the person’s name on it. 

Magdalene laid down on the workbench dramatically. 

“We’re done,” she said, running her hand through her thick dark hair. “Thank Christ.”

“Thanks for everything, Mags.” He smiled at her sweetly as he picked a leaf out of her hair. “How much do I owe you for the flowers?”

Magdalene sat up on the bench and thought about it for a moment. “You owe me lunch next week. And a promise to visit every once in a full moon.”

Tanner thought about arguing with her, but he also knew that it wasn’t a battle he would win. Mags took after his mother more than he did most days. He laughed instead. 

“The werewolf jokes are never gonna get old, huh?”

Magdalene smiled mischievously. “Did they get old before you were the one them? Because I’m sure you and Chris especially definitely told your fair share.”

“Alright, you got me there,” Tanner said, admitting defeat. “Lunch at the diner next Wednesday?”

Mags nodded and Tanner kissed her on the cheek. 

“Wednesday,” she said, as Tanner began to get ready to leave, putting all the flowers into a tote bag. “Don’t forget. I know where you live. And work. And where I can probably find you if you’re not there.”

“I won’t, I won’t!” Tanner confirmed. 

As he left the shop, he looked back once to wave to Magdalene, pleased to see her delighted expression as she stood in the doorway between the front and back areas. 

* * *

After he left the shop, Tanner began his mission. 

Tanner went to the mayor’s office first, knowing he’d be cutting it close, but hopefully the receptionist, Ginny would still be there to let him into Carter’s office. Luckily she was just on her way out when Tanner got there, her dark blue hair standing out against the bright colors of the room, and she let him set the rose on Carter’s desk next to a photo with him and Gavin as a wolf that Kelly had taken a few years prior, no questions asked. 

He headed to the school next, hoping that someone would still be there by the time he arrived (and that Jessie wouldn’t be). He was in luck, the teachers were gone but Jean, the custodian whose car Tanner had just fixed the other month, was. He let Tanner into Jessie’s classroom, room K-10, and Tanner left the rose on the desk on her mound of papers (which included a wedding magazine. Tanner would have to resist the urge to ask her about that, least he risk getting his ass handed to him again). 

He headed to the garage after that, knowing that everyone was gone for the night at this point. There, he left Gordo’s rose on the desk in his office, placing it next to the wooden raven Mark had carved for him a few months earlier. He put Robbie’s flower on the reception desk, right next to the picture he kept of Kelly, the blond’s hair messy from the wind that day. Finally, he left Chris and Rico’s flowers on the antique cars they’d been restoring for the past few years. Every morning they tended to check the cars out, so Tanner knew they’d find the flowers without having to look too hard. 

Tanner went to the diner next, picking up dinner while he was there. He knew Dominque wasn’t working tonight because she and Jessie were on a double date with Chris and his girlfriend. Andy, the owner of the diner, promised that he’d leave it where Dom would find it so he left the rose in his trusty hands. 

From there, he drove to the Lighthouse. He was lucky that Bambi wasn’t there tonight, but today was Friday and Bambi, Rico, and their daughter Carly usually spent Friday nights today, since Bambi tried to be at the bar on the weekends. Tanner left the roses for Bambi and Carly in the back office under the photo that hung on the wall of the day the Lighthouse reopened. 

Next was Mark and Gordo’s house. Tanner didn’t know where the two of them were, but he was grateful that they weren’t home. He used the spare key that Gordo kept under the welcome mat that Mark had made him buy and set Mark’s rose on the coffee table next to the new James Patterson book he’d been reading. He knew Mark would find it there. 

Now was the hard part of the mission—getting the roses into the little blue house where Robbie and Kelly lived and the house at the end of the lane where Elizabeth, Jox, and Carvin lived (He and Chris might have come up with ship names for the pack at one point. They still argued whether Mark and Gordo should be Margo or Gark though. They did agree that Kelly and Robbie were Kelbie though.)

To Tanner’s surprise, neither Kelly nor Robbie we’re home, but someone had left the front door of the little blue house open. Tanner thanked the Flying Spaghetti Monster for small miracles and looked around to make sure no one was around before he entered the house. He placed Kelly’s flower in the kitchen, right next to a vase of flowers that Robbie must have gotten for him. At least this time, Robbie hadn’t pulled up the flowers from Elizabeth’s garden, he presumed. 

From inside the little blue house, he could hear a few of the pack members outside. He heard Carter and who was probably Gavin in the backyard and he assumed they were laying in the hammock that Gavin liked so much. He also thought he could hear Elizabeth in the kitchen, although he  _ really _ had to concentrate to be able to tell. So he was able to sneak out of the front door of the little blue house without anyone noticing.

Carefully and quietly, he opened the front door of the house at the end of the lane, looking around before he did it, and hurried to the office. There, on the desk, he left Ox and Joe’s roses, sitting beside a stack of papers that seemed to be a couple of inches high. Tanner didn’t envy his Alphas. From there, he headed up the stairs. He sniffed the air and could smell Ox and Joe were in their room in the attic so he knew he needed to be careful not to catch their attention. 

Tanner went into Carter and Gavin’s room first and was surprised that it wasn’t as much of a mess as it was the last time he’d been in here. He guessed that was Gavin’s doing more than Carter’s though. Carefully, he set Gavin’s rose down on the top of the dresser and left the room as quickly as he entered.

Last, but not least, Tanner headed to Elizabeth’s (first) art studio, where she created many of her paintings. The room was wall to wall with art and art supplies. Hell, there were art supplies that Tanner didn’t even know the name of. But he placed Elizabeth’s rose, the final rose, on the easel that rested a blank canvas. 

And with that Tanner’s mission was complete, operation Valentine’s Santa Claus was a (hopefully) success. So he hurried home before anyone realized he had been here. 

* * *

When Tanner woke up on Saturday he did what he usually did. He took a shower, he got dressed, he fed Sera, his nine-year-old cat who’d been a stray who just wouldn’t leave. He figured it would be a normal Saturday when he left the house and headed to the house at the end of the lane. He didn’t expect everyone to stare at him. 

“What?” he said. “Why is everyone staring at me?”

Carter shook his head at him. “I know this is going to sound weird coming from me—“

Kelly and Robbie both laughed and Carter glared at them. 

“But you realize you’re _not_ sneaky right?” Carter was playing with Gavin’s hair and Tanner wasn’t actually sure the other man was aware of it. 

Elizabeth smiled at Tanner brightly and—oh. He noticed the flower in her hair, the yellow nearly blending with the woman’s graying blonde hair. 

“What Carter means is, we know you brought everyone flowers, Tanner,” the older woman said. “It was very sweet of you.”

“How did you—?” Tanner asked. 

“Dude, your scent is on them,” Carter said. 

“And I heard you going into the house,” Gavin said. “You really aren’t sneaky.”

A hand was placed on his shoulder, and he jumped a bit, not realizing anyone had come in behind him. 

“It’s also yellow roses,” Gordo said from behind him. “Those mean platonic love, right? Those would be flowers you’d give."

Tanner was shocked that Gordo remembered that, but he nodded. 

“When did you learn flower language?” Mark asked his mate, his eyebrows raised.

“Tanner,” Chris said. “His mom used to run the flower shop.”

“Yeah. I mean she did. But I didn’t think you guys would remember anything,” Tanner replied. 

“Dude, that was like. One of the few things you talked about for the first few years we became friends,” Rico said. “That stuff is like. Ingrained in my brain now.” 

“What you did was nice,” Robbie said, his own flower in his shirt pocket. Huh, he must have gone into the shop to get it. “So just let us love you too, okay?”

And with that Robbie wrapped his arms around Tanner and Tanner sighed at the green that was filling the room. This green was what Tanner had so badly missed in the months that Carter and Gavin had gone, the years honestly. 

But now the green was back. The entire pack was back together, and Tanner? He relished in this feeling of pack, of family, of love. And he prayed it would never leave them, any of them again. 

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! If you wanna talk more GC with me, come and chat with me on Twitter! I'm Hearts530


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